Finals Week Strike over Escalating Unfair Labor Practices

As you have probably heard, on Saturday, May 31st, if we have not resolved the escalating Unfair Labor Practices committed by UC management and administration, we will announce a ULP strike beginning on June 7, the Saturday before finals, and continuing through the end of the term. Such a strike would involve withholding all work duties, including, but not limited to grading, entering grades, proctoring exams, and holding office hours. Withholding this labor is within your right. Please scroll to the bottom of this announcement for more details on the ULP charges against the UC.

Please stay updated through our emails, facebook page, this blog, and communications from our union representatives for more information.

We’re encouraging all members to attend our Monthly Membership Meeting on Friday, May 30, at 4pm in Donald Bren Hall, room 4011. This will be a great place to gather more information on our strike and learn how to get involved. Additional items include planning for our Rally for the Contract (Tuesday, June 3rd at the flagpoles at noon), meeting our newly-elected officers, and updates on contract bargaining.

In addition, a coalition of students and workers will be holding a union info session and delegation on Thursday, June 5, starting at 11 am, in the front of Aldrich Hall.

The following are Unfair Practice Charges that have been filed by UAW 2865 through the Public Employee Relations Board. These charges stem from illegal actions committed by UC Management and Administration in regards to our April 2-3 ULP Strike. The UC has shown a pattern of unfair labor practices against its workers, and it is more than apparent that these practices have been escalating. These charges, while egregious alone, together reveal a systemic effort to intimidate UC workers from engaging in legally protected union activity and voicing opinions about their own workplace and working conditions.

Arresting members for picketing and filing student conduct charges against members.

On April 2nd and 3rd, during our statewide strike, UC Police engaged in surveillance of peaceful union members and supporters on the picket lines. UC PD arrested a number of union organizers and activists. In addition, these organizers have also been threatened with Student Code of Conduct Violations, to further intimidate them and prevent them from engaging in legally protected union activity.

See: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7eaoS53smaYOHdSbkNIUFhBZ2M/edit

Tearing down union posters and information.

On the days leading up to the April 3rd strike at UC Irvine, members who were Irvine unit officers at the time were threatened by administration for distributing union fliers and info sheets to members in their offices. An administrator not only tore down the posters, which contained significant information about workers’ rights at the UC, but acted in a hostile manner towards the organizers, who were peacefully acting within their rights as union members, students, and employees, by yelling and threatening to call UC Police.

Threatening members with reprisal for striking, with comments like, “If you strike, you will not work in this program again.”

During a staff meeting for the writing program at UCSC, the director informed student workers, many of whom were union workers, that if they withheld labor for the upcoming April 2nd and 3rd strike, that they would be barred from further employment in the program. In a follow-up email, the director again implied that workers in the program should not strike. At no point did the director or other administrators attempt to inform workers in the program that in fact, their participation in the strike was completely lawful and should be free of intimidation or discrimination.

Misinforming working and illegal polling in regards to our last strike.

Administrators at UCSC and UCSC sent out emails misinforming workers, claiming that our planned ULP strike was illegal, thus discouraging them to exercise their legal right to withhold labor. Additionally, similar to legally questionable action taken during our Sympathy Strike with AFSCME in November, department administrators at various campuses engaged in illegal polling of graduate student workers.

At UCSD, undergraduates from certain programs were asked to report to the Muir College Writing Program whether or n.ot their sections had been cancelled due to the strike. The students were not informed that these reports would be used to compile a list of striking TAs. University Management used these reports to deduct approximately $100 from these TA’s paychecks. While an employer is not legally bound to “finance a strike,” such a deduction was excessive considering that many TAs, and the TAs in this case, routinely work more than the twenty hours a week required of them through their appointment.